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Transportation Technology and New Mobility Options: City of Guelph

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Transportation Technology and New Mobility Options: City of Guelph Transportation Technology and New Mobility Options City of Guelph Transportation Master Plan Background Paper Series Guelph Transportation Master Plan Moving Guelph Forward Guelph is growing and how we move This paper is part of a series of around our city is changing. As a result, background papers intended to we are exploring transportation options communicate information, key trends, to make our city move better in every and concepts. These will form the way. Through the Transportation Master foundation of and set the strategic Plan (TMP) update, we will review all direction for our updated TMP. The of the ways we move: walking, cycling, papers are intended to support riding transit, driving, trucking, and conversations in the community and using trains. Our goal is to ensure that within City Hall about how we plan for we offer diverse travel options, have the future of mobility. appropriate transportation capacity, and maintain a high quality of life for The series includes the following both existing and future residents and papers, which are all available at workers. guelph.ca/tmp: The updated TMP will look at • Transportation Technology and transportation planning in Guelph New Mobility Options beyond 2031. The main objectives of • The Changing Transportation this update are: System User • To ensure that the new plan builds • Transportation and Building 21st upon current policies, including the Century Cities Official Plan and other master plans that have been approved since • Road Safety 2005; • Network Planning • To recommend new policies and • Transportation System guidelines that reflect the vision for Resilience our community and balance mobility, environment, and efficiency, while Each of the background papers opens prioritizing safety and access for all with an introductory primer on the topic travellers; and before it examines key global trends, considers how these topics and trends • To explore how new, evolving are currently addressed in Guelph, technologies and travel services will and concludes with an analysis of the shape the future of transportation in implications of that topic on planning Guelph. Guelph’s future transportation system. Moving Guelph Forward 2 Table of Contents New Mobility: A Primer 4 New Mobility Trends 10 New Mobility in Guelph Today 18 Moving Guelph Forward: New Mobility 20 Acknowledgements 22 New Mobility: A Primer Over the last few decades, amidst the rapid Specifically, the paper covers: evolution of digital technologies and ever- improving connectivity, new transportation- • Ride-hailing related innovations have emerged at an • Microtransit unprecedented rate. These innovations are changing how we move, shaking up the • Micromobility transportation sector, and reshaping our cities. • Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) Understanding the changes in how people • E-commerce and goods move in urban environments is • Electrification critical to forecasting what transportation will look like in the future and knowing • Self-driving Technology what we should plan for. This paper discusses a number of new and emerging • Connected Mobility technology-driven changes to mobility that exist in communities today or are on the horizon. Moving Guelph Forward 4 Starting with an introduction of each of Microtransit these technologies and new approaches, this paper discusses how they are being Microtransit - also known as “dynamic implemented around the world and outlines transit” – is a demand-responsive public what is already present in Guelph today. transit service that uses smaller vehicles The paper concludes with some key (e.g. vans, minibuses, etc.) than would takeaways about new mobility and how be expected with a conventional service. it will affect transportation plans for the Microtransit can offer on-demand or a future. form of fixed-schedule services with either dynamic or fixed routing. Within its service Ride-hailing area, microtransit may provide door-to- door service or it may have predetermined Ride-hailing is an on-demand service stops and only serve the stops where a trip offered by transportation network request is made. The scheduling, dispatch, companies (TNCs). Since the early 2010’s, software, and operational aspects of TNCs have been springing up in cities and microtransit can be operated by the public allowing individuals to use their own car to transit system, by a third-party service transport passengers for a fare that is often provider, or through a partnership between cheaper than a traditional taxi service. a local transit system and a private Ride-hailing services are typically booked company. and paid for via an app that also allows both drivers and passengers to rate each With these attributes, the microtransit other. model combines some of the flexibility of single user transportation with attributes of Uber and Lyft are the most well known a conventional public transit service. This TNCs but there are many other companies unique role presents great opportunities offering ride-sharing services. Smaller to fill in gaps in the traditional transit TNCs often tend to be limited to a specific network. local geography. Figure 1: Visual representation of the on-demand microtransit model1 1 Reproduced from Smart Circle, “The rise of the Mircrotransit movement.”. https://www.smart-circle. org/blog/microtransit/ Moving Guelph Forward 5 The cost-effectiveness of microtransit is Micromobility dependent on its service area. Though microtransit is more convenient for the Micromobility refers to the use of light rider than conventional transit service, vehicles that can carry one or two it can also cost significantly more to passengers at a time, such as bicycles, serve the same number of riders with scooters, and even small vehicles. microtransit. The microtransit model is Micromobility can be human-powered often most economical in smaller low- or powered by an electric motor. Users density service areas where potential typically start their trip upon coming across riders are spread far apart from each other, an available device and can end their making it challenging to offer an efficient trips anywhere within a geo-fenced area, and convenient fixed-route service. leaving the shared device avialable for the next user. Access to micromobility devices is often facilitated through a smartphone app, which allows users to locate available devices, commence or terminate their trip, and pay for the service. These innovations can provide relatively low-cost and convenient options for short trips, making them especially attractive within urban centres. Moving Guelph Forward 6 Mobility-as-a-Service MaaS also prioritizes user preference: MaaS platforms often allow users to influence route planning by indicating their Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is an preferred trip attributes such as modes emerging user-oriented philosophy that of travel or their preference for trade-offs takes advantage of digital platforms between the number of transfers and travel and real-time data to get a user of the time. MaaS’s combination of trip planning, service from point A to point B in the most booking, and payment in one location is a convenient and personalized way possible key factor of its convenience. for one single fee. MaaS leverages modern transportation options to optimize personal mobility. When planning a route, MaaS platforms can link transit, ride-hailing, car-sharing, micromobility, walking, and more to create one seamless trip for the user of this service. Figure 2: Illustration of Mobility-as-a-Service2 2 Reproduced from Kivimäki, M. “MaaS-Finland on the leading edge,” Mobility as A Service Seminar and Networking Event, Ministry of Transport and Communications: Ventaa, Finland, 2014 Moving Guelph Forward 7 Delivery Services as both internal combustion and electric motors) under the EV umbrella. However, within the context of this paper, EVs refer Since the early 2000s, the ever-increasing to vehicles that run fully on electric energy convenience and choice provided by online and are either battery-powered (BEVs) or shopping has driven major changes in plug-in (PEVs). how we buy things. Today, it is easy to purchase a wide variety of things online, A shift to EVs will reduce greenhouse gas from clothes and furniture to groceries and emissions, improve air quality, and reduce meals from your favourite restaurant. The transportation-related noise in urban growing popularity of online shopping has centres. However, moving all existing resulted in customers being increasingly drivers to EVs will not reduce traffic reliant on last-mile home delivery services congestion. Electrification also still has to get their purchases to their doorstep. major hurdles to overcome in the next decades. Since range between charges Courier network service companies have continues to be a major limiting factor for emerged to meet some of these new EVs, large-scale adoption of EVs would delivery demands. These services use require significantly more public chargers online apps or platforms to facilitate than exist today. And although AVs are deliveries, which are often done by becoming more affordable, high up-front individuals using their personal vehicle or costs are still a barrier for many potential bicycle. The use of courier network services EV owners. helps improve delivery efficiency by reducing the number of individual trips and Note that electrification goes beyond the number of large vehicles required. cars. Buses, trains, and goods movement vehicles are also seeing increasing The growing options and
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